Edgar Levenson by Robert Prince, Ph.D., Series Editor The concept of "Turning Point Papers" if applied to another discipline, might connote an orderly, progressively developing line of thought punctuated by milestone contributions. No one, these days, would take such a description of psychoanalysis seriously. The contributions of the Interpersonal School arguably provided the first coherent, non-heretical alternative to Freudian psychoanalysis, in the sense of an essentially different but quintessentially psychoanalytic theoretical system. But currently the Interpersonal School, which can be seen as the progenitor of the prevailing contemporary approaches, Self Psychology, Relational Psychoanalysis and even modern Freudian theories, has fallen into their shadow. It is no simple task to select the first Interpersonal turning point paper for this series, not only because of the richness of the tradition but also because of the risk that representatives of other psychoanalytic traditions might call "foul, that's one of ours." Who then to select? Marylou Lionells is past director of the William Alanson White Institute, has taught Interpersonal Theory for many years and is the Senior Editor of the Handbook of Interpersonal Psychoanalysis, a tour de force in its own right. Dr. Lionells keenly observes and eloquently describes surfaces that are readily inattended, what some might call the Interpersonal unconscious. She is also exquisitely attuned to the bobbing of the psychoanalytic raft on the social currents. It is a combination of virtues that leads to radicalism. Thus, there is little surprise that after her consideration of any number of the major Interpersonal writers, she settled on Edgar Levenson. Her choice has a personal resonance for me. Levenson's book The Fallacy of Understanding: An Inquiry into the Changing Structure of Psychoanalysis turned everything I thought I knew about psychoanalysis upside down and inside out. A thinker for whom social context is central, Levenson is also sui generis. Dr. Lionells has chosen a paper first presented in 1968, the secondary title of which became the name of his later book. The paper adumbrates the development of themes that have been elaborated throughout Levenson's career, in that book, in his later volume, The Ambiguity of Change,and subsequently in the collection of papers entitled The Purloined Self. Levenson's ideas, unique, provocative and profound, have fundamentally altered psychoanalysis and have been incorporated into the basic positions of the other contemporary schools. We have joined up with Amazon.com to provide you with the convenience of ordering books online. In the pages to come you can order specific books that we cite in our courses, or you may browse Amazon.com.